Rosecrance a partner in care at Crusader's West State clinic

Wednesday

ROCKFORD — Rosecrance Health Network and Crusader Community Health have formed a unique partnership to strengthen the link between mental health services and primary care treatment.

ROCKFORD — Rosecrance Health Network and Crusader Community Health have formed a unique partnership to strengthen the link between mental health services and primary care treatment.

Will Holm, a licensed clinical social worker with Rosecrance, is now embedded at Crusader’s West State Street clinic. His office space is on the same medical unit as primary care providers who can refer patients to him in “real time” if they identify needs during routine appointments.

Officials say this setup reduces the chances of patients skipping out on referrals for mental health assessments, therefore improving both physical and emotional treatment outcomes.
Sharing resources will also ultimately translate into cost savings for the organizations.

“For so long, behavioral health services have been kept at arm’s length,” Rosecrance President and CEO Phil Eaton said. “In an effort to eliminate barriers to receive timely care that’s appropriate and accessible, we’re trying to be as creative as we can.”

Holm, who’s worked at Rosecrance for 18 years, said he’s received positive feedback from the Crusader patients he’s seen since September. In fact, officials said they’ve been surprised at how little resistance there’s been from patients to the new setup.

Holm is already seeing as many as nine to 12 patients a day. The point is not to make appointments but to be available on an as-needed basis.

When a Crusader provider refers a patient to Holm, he does a brief assessment to determine the patient’s most immediate need. Holm can teach patients stress management techniques like relaxation and breathing exercises to help in the short term.

He can also suggest medications that the primary care providers can prescribe, and he can also make a referral directly to the Rosecrance Ware Center, formerly known as the Janet Wattles Center. Crusader medical staff also can consult with staff at the Ware Center.

“We’re really treating the whole person, not just looking at the physical,” said Mary Ann Abate, Rosecrance’s chief operating officer of mental health.

Eaton said embedding Holm at Crusader is the first step in what officials hope to be a mutually beneficial partnership. He said it’s only been within the last decade that health care professionals have had access to good training in addiction and mental health disorders, which improves their ability to connect patients with the right resources.

“Now at Crusader, the right resource is down the hall,” Eaton said. “We’re not handing the patients or the doctors the Yellow Pages to make them sort that out by themselves.”

Eaton said the goal is to have more than one Rosecrance staff member at Crusader.

“The key thing when coming into someone else’s house is that you need to have a person who respects that relationship, shows deference to that culture, as well as functions within the expectations and systems that exist,” Eaton said. “It requires a special person, and we have that in Will.”

Crusader officials also said they want to embed one of their medical providers at the Ware Center so people seeking treatment for serious mental illnesses can have better access to primary care services. The goal is also to expand the Rosecrance partnership at Crusader’s other locations.

“Our medical unit is really no different in a lot of ways than other medical units,” said Mark Kendall, Crusader’s chief operating officer. “There are people who come in and out every day who could use mental health assessments and treatments who never get them. So it’s really not because of who we serve. This is a universal issue that mental health issues get either ignored or we don’t have enough time for them wherever doctors are seeing patients. So this is our way of addressing that.”